Defrost
by Inuki Ookami
Summary: Jou x Seto - At University, Jou reassesses his own life, but fate causes him to keep clashing with Kaiba. Can they resolve their differences? - Jounouchi Katsuya Jonouchi Kaiba Shounenai Shounen-ai Shonen-ai Kaijou Shonenai Shounen Angst Yaoi SJ Slash
1. Last Day of Summer

**Defrost**

_Author's Note: _This one goes out to all of us who still Puppyship (who remember YGO & like K x J). As always, suggestions/feedback always welcome.

**Chapter 1: Last Day of Summer**

The last day of summer is always like a fleeting dream. An ephemeral memory that lingers somewhere in the back of your mind, but when you try to touch it, it is gone. That day... the sun shines so brightly in your mind that it is blinding, and every photograph that your eye has taken of those precious moments appears polarized when you try to access them.

A blonde youth with messy hair that falls in front of his face runs down the street, a brunette girl at his heels. Six figures making their way down the staircase leading to the water. A boy, overdressed for the beach, with white locks of white hair wincing as a volleyball flies toward him. A shorter boy than the rest, sitting down constructing a sandcastle. Another of him collecting shells down by the tide line. A brown haired boy, his hair meeting at a single spike in the top, grinning and eating a hotdog in front of a vendor by the beachside. A crab scuttling across the sand. The sunset is a golden orange disc lowering below the horizon line, casting a warm red glow across the sky.

All these images once formed a narrative, but that narrative seems impenetrable now, inaccessible from the mere accumulation of these candid vignettes.

-

The two figures fell sat at the shore-side, the soft rush of water lapping up against their bare toes.

"It's going to be hard on both of you, won't it?" She inquired.

"It'll be harder on him." He replied, not wanting to show any weakness, not allowing an admission of the truth to slip out. He daren't admit that he, too, would be hurt. What bit of dignity he still held onto, he clung to it like a man stranded in the ocean barely holding onto some bits of broken wood to keep afloat.

"You'll still see each other, right?" She said solemnly, trying to lighten things up.

"Yeah. Guess so." He sighed, and crooked his elbows upward and back, leaning his head on his hands. His shadow slept dutifully ahead of him, stretched out along the ground and into the water.

"He's your best friend…" She frowned, the glow of the sunset creating a golden halo atop her head and shoulders. As she turned to face him, the warmth cascaded across her face highlighting her eyes and nose. "It's important, you know, a special treasure. It's not something you should let slip away."

"Anzu… no more friendship speeches right now." He groaned, standing up and dusting some sand off of his swimming trunks. "I just want to try to enjoy the moment." He brushed some hairs out of his own face.

He turned and stepped away, about to walk back to where the others sat on the beach.

"Wait." She said suddenly. He stopped, the darkness covering his face as he was turned away from the dying sun.

"What is it?" He asked,

"Do you think this is hard for you? You know… it's hard on me too. Yugi's also my friend!" She said, choking on tears. Attempting to regain composure, she spoke again. "Though we'll be going together, I'm not sure how much I'll see of you either. Different departments require different classes. Please try to make an effort to see me outside of class." She said solemnly.

The blonde boy's face tilted, turning toward the sinking ball of fire in the sky. The glow licked across his cheek as though it were a blacksmith's flame tempering iron. Individual strands of Jounouchi's blonde hair lit up golden like flaxen stems of wheat at the peak of day.

"I'll make an effort, Anzu! I promise ya!" He grinned a broad smile, his teeth catching flecks of sunlight.

"Come on, then. Let's go and enjoy this last day that we all have together." She motioned back to where the others sat.

"Okay!" He said walking away.

"Hey!" She exclaimed.

"Eh?" He turned to look at her quizzically.

"You know you could be more of a gentleman and help me up, rather than just leave me here." She sighed. "Nevermind." She shook her head as she got to her feet.

Jounouchi just looked at her and started laughing, in no time she was laughing along with him as the two walked back to where the rest of their friends were relaxing and watching the sun go down.

-

It felt like only yesterday that they were still in high school together.

One morning, Anzu was the first person the honey-eyed youth saw when he got to Domino High.

"Morning Jounouchi!" Anzu waved, her brown hair swishing softly in the wind.

"Hey Anzu, how's it going?" He asked.

"I'm great, Jou… just a bit nervous." She said.

"Ah… nervous?" He inquired.

"You know… about the audition tomorrow." The brunette explained.

"Oh! That! How could I forget! Didja want us to come to cheerlead?" The blonde boy laughed heartily.

"It'd be nice if you guys came, but I don't think you'll be allowed inside." She said, biting her lower lip gently.

"Dancing is a big deal to you, huh, Anzu? But I thought you were planning to go to school in New York for it." Jou mentioned.

"Yes!" Her eyes glinted. "But to achieve my dream of being accepted to New York's finest dancing schools, I think it's safer for me to do a year here." The brunette girl exclaimed with a fire in her voice.

"Uh… so what you mean is… it's too expensive." He chuckled.

"Yeah." She sighed. "Airfare plus rent and then the additional cost of the schools makes it unaffordable this year… but I'm I hoping that if I do well enough at Domino University's program, I can get a scholarship that could help pay for some of that." She grinned.

"Well good job!" He gave her a thumbs up.

"Don't you know what you want to do?" She asked.

"Eat!" He grinned.

"As always." She rolled her eyes.

-

"Do I know what I want to do?" The blonde boy asked himself, his friend's voice echoing in his ears.

His father, who was in the other room and had been screaming at the television set in a drunken stupor, was now passed out. The blaring music and voices of some late night show were the only things he could hear in the background. Aside from his own heart beating, that was. He wasn't sure when he became aware that his temple was throbbing, but it started getting to him.

"Do I know what I want to do?" He asked himself again, as he peeled off his t-shirt. In his mirror, each ripple and curve of his skin was highlighted by the dim glow of his desk lamp.

"It's like I thought high school would just go on forever." He sighed, collapsing onto his bed. "I never figured it'd end- and now there's only a year left." He shook his head, his hair falling to the sides of his face and closed his eyes.

-

The three boys sat together in the lobby.

"I sure hope Anzu will do okay…" Yugi pouted.

"Hey, Yug, I'm sure Anzu will do just fine." The blonde said confidently.

"Yeah, plus you got to see her in that cute little outfit." Honda laughed.

"Erm… yeah." Yugi fidgeted nervously, blushing.

A couple of girls walked down the hallway giggling and gossiping with each other.

"Wow. What a bunch of babes." Honda whispered to Jounouchi, elbowing him in the ribs.

"Huh? Oh, yeah." Jounouchi said, lost in thought. Anzu was so passionate about auditioning to be a dancer, and even Yugi was so passionate about winning at puzzles and challenging games requiring strategy. On the other hand, what did Jounouchi have to show for himself? Anzu's words rang in his head. What did he want to do? What would he become?

The blonde youth looked over at his shorter friend. Yugi was deep in concentration himself. It would be hard for the smaller boy too, if Anzu went away to New York in a year. Yet at the same time, they all wanted her dreams to come true.

Yugi's gaze became fixed on the door to the audition hall.

"Anzu…" the smaller boy said to himself quietly.

But Jou had his own decisions to worry about right now as well as those of his friend's.

-

The bell rang and students left the classroom for their lunch break. Almost everyone had left except three friends.

"So Yug, have you figured out what you're going to do about university next year?" The blonde asked the boy with multi-coloured hair.

"Ah… University." Yugi looked a little dismayed at that thought.

"I applied to Domino University!" Jou said, pumping his fist in the air.

"Eh...?" The younger boy looked up at him quite surprised.

"Is something the matter?" Jounouchi quirked a brow.

"You don't actually think you're going to get in do you?" Honda piped in from behind.

"Hey! Shutup!" Jou said, swatting his brunette friend.

"No… that's nice, Jou. Good luck!" Yugi said, smiling weakly at Jounouchi, as though he were concealing something.

"Yug… is there something wrong with what I said?" The blonde paused, ruffling his own hair a bit as he scratched his head.

"N-no… I'm happy for you, Jou. It's… it's just… My grandpa is getting older and he's been ill this year, and we don't really have that much money. Plus, my grades aren't really any better than yours. So I think I'm gong to have to stay and run my grandpa's game shop- at least for a year. University is too expensive, and it was hard enough to get out of debt from Duelist Kingdom, you know." Yugi explained, lowering his head.

"Well that's okay, Yug. Maybe in a year or two you can come to university along with the rest of us. Besides, we'll still see each other, right?" The blonde asked, perhaps asking himself more than anything.

"Right…" The shorter boy said, not sounding so terribly sure of himself.

"Would you morons keep it down?" A harsh voice came from the back of the classroom. Jounouchi wheeled around to see who it was.

"Kaiba!" Yugi and Jounouchi said simultaneously.

The brown haired boy sat in the back of the class, his purple cloak billowing around his desk like a seated vulture's wings. He perched, bird-like, his beady eyes looking up, over his laptop at the others.

"Some people are trying to work here. Some people are trying to be productive while you fools sit here shouting at each other at the top of your lungs. Class doesn't start for another thirty minutes, so why don't you go out and play on the jungle gym like the first graders that you are?" He sneered.

"We weren't shoutin'! We were havin' a civilised conversation!" Jounouchi said defensively. At this, the brunette chuckled heartily. The blonde clenched his fist, and grit his teeth together.

"Mutt, do you think you stand a chance of getting into Domino University? You're a failure in school and a failure at life. I'd be surprised if your marks were even higher than a pass." He scowled.

"Th-they are higher!" The blonde boy began blushing.

"Your face tells me otherwise, mutt." Kaiba replied smugly.

"Kaiba, don't make fun of him!" Yugi pouted.

"Hnn. It's not like your marks are any better, Yugi. Why don't you go run your father's rundown excuse for a game shop, since you obviously can't handle school and Duel Monsters at the same time." The brunette scoffed.

"Why don't you just shut-up Kaiba? You think you're so great- what've you got to show for it?" The blonde glared at the object of his hatred.

"Oh, let's see, straight A's, a multimillion dollar corporation with a theme park under my family name, a mansion, my own system of duel disks, and more money than you could ever imagine." Kaiba boasted, standing up tall.

"But friends… you don't have any friends. You don't have anyone other than Mokuba who really cares about you. You don't have a girlfriend or any close companions. You live a lonely life of orderin' people around at work and orderin' people around in your house." Jounouchi shouted passionately.

"It's true, Kaiba, you live a life where everyone is your subordinate, and no one is your equal… but isn't it lonesome?" Yugi said, a hint of pity in his voice. As he spoke Kaiba packed up his laptop and stalked over to the blonde.

Kaiba grabbed the blonde by the scruff of his neck, and lifted him off the ground, then he pressed his face close up against the struggling boy's and scowled. In a low, solemn voice he spoke.

"Don't tell me what my life is like. You don't know me." He said, Yugi and Honda were shouting at the brunette to let their friend go, but at that moment, the blonde and the brunette seemed trapped in their own little world, as though they were playing some fierce shadow game of their own.

In a flash, Kaiba had let the other boy go, and the blonde dropped back down onto his feet. He stood there, his eyes wide, his mouth and body unmoving… silent. His other friends were asking him if he was okay, but he couldn't hear them.

Kaiba's footsteps vanished out the doorway, and they weighed heavy on his heart. After a minute or two, Jounouchi finally snapped out of it.

"Fucking Kaiba." He muttered under his breath.

"Are you alright, Jounouchi?" Honda asked as Yugi's face peered up at the blonde.

"Yeah." The blonde coughed. "I… I'm fine. Don't worry about it." He said, not sounding too sure of himself.

"Ah… are you sure about that, Jou?" Yugi asked unblinkingly.

"Yeah of course." He scoffed, running a hand through his hair. "Kaiba's just jealous 'cause I said he can't get a girlfriend. He'd probably hafta settle for a mail-order bride." He chuckled.

"Jou! That's not too nice." Yugi frowned.

"Hah. It's probably true." Honda quipped.

"Hey guys!" An albino boy popped his head into the classroom. "Anzu and I were looking all over for you… we thought you'd be in the lunchroom by now." He said, confusion tainting his voice.

"Oh… food!" Jounouchi ran so quickly that it was as though he was standing in the middle of the class one second, then at the door the next. Yugi and Honda just blinked in surprise.

"Boy, that guy sure does love his food." Honda sighed.

"Come on Honda-kun. If we hurry maybe we can get outside in time to catch a few games of Duel Monsters with someone!" Yugi grinned.

"I'm not sure what keeps you interested" Jou said, as his companions followed him out the door, "after all, you win every time anyway."

"That's just because you suck." Honda laughed running off.

"Hey! He doesn't only play against me y'know!" the blonde shouted angrily, chasing after his friend angrily.

-

"I got in!" A voice screamed in the distance.

"Huh?" Yugi turned around to look in the direction of the sound as loud panting and footsteps flew through the nearby classroom doorway.

"Jounouchi-kun?" Anzu stared blankly.

"I got in!" the blonde youth screamed.

"To university?" Anzu inquired.

"What? Jounouchi? No way." Honda looked dumbfounded.

"Hey! You're no rocket scientist yourself!" The blonde boy snapped at his brown haired friend. The honey-eyed boy brandished an envelope from his pocket that was a bit scrunched up. He scrambled to unwrinkle it, then basically tore the contents out of the envelope.

"Look!" He shouted excitedly. "Domino University accepted me!"

"Are your marks really good enough for that?" Honda gawked.

"I got all my teachers to pity-pass me!" The blonde boy grinned. The others sighed.

"Congratulations, Jounouchi-kun!" Yugi said, smiling up at his friend.

The door swung open.

"Anzu, when do you find out if you got accepted?" The blonde boy asked excitedly.

"Well it might take a little longer considering I had to audition and everything." She said thinking for a moment.

Jou plonked down at his seat backwards, facing the others as he stuffed the envelope and letter back in his pocket. As his friends chatted, he tossed a wrapped up ball of paper on his desk over his shoulder.

The ball of paper flew back over his shoulder a moment later, whizzing past with intense speed. It hit the wall and bounced harmlessly to the ground. Jounouchi turned around to see a brunette youth with a purple trench coat that seemed to float around him. His arm was still outstretched from when he had deflected the paper ball.

"Kaiba!" the blonde gasped. The others had stopped talking, and the air was thick with a miasma of silence. All eyes were on the two boys.

"Mongrel…" Kaiba glowered, his eyes narrowing and his voice growing raspier.

"It wasn't his fault, Kaiba! He wasn't even looking when he threw that." Anzu was the first to point out.

"That makes no difference to me." The cerulean-eyed youth snapped back at her.

"Why not? It wasn't intentional, so you should forget about it." She replied haughtily.

"Shut-up, I won't tolerate this sort of insolence." Kaiba sneered.

"Kaiba, will ya quit bein' such a jerk? Don't you have any kind of manners; don't talk to a girl like that!" Jounouchi snapped, closing the distance between them.

"A fine one you are to chastise me on my etiquette." The brunette glared, leaning down till his face was quite close to the other boy's.

"Chasawhatie on your who?" The blonde boggled. Kaiba sighed.

"Right, I forgot, I'm talking to a mutt, I should reduce my sentences to monosyllabic commands." The darker haired boy muttered, the contempt seeping through his vicious voice. "For those who speak the language of stupid, she is a weak-minded woman, and you're in no position to criticize."

"Weak-minded! She's going to Domino University next year!" The blonde argued

"Give it up, Katsuya, we all know she's applied to be a dancer. That takes mighty brains, doesn't it?" The dark haired boy snorted, obviously amused with himself.

"You know what, Kaiba-" The blonde started, raising a fist.

"No, I don't know. Why don't you tell me, dog? Or maybe you should save yourself the embarrassment, before you go running off like a puppy with its tail between its legs." The brunette belittled the blonde.

"Shut-up! You think you're so fancy with all your big words that nobody understands-" The blonde said furiously.

"No, that's just you, Jou." Anzu cut in pointedly.

"You're not helping, Anzu!" The blonde sighed, and then turned back to the boy who was inches from his face and continued. "But really, you're just a coward. You hide behind all this money and formal mumbo jumbo because you are afraid to have people be on the same level as you. You're afraid that if you stop talkin' down to people for once in your life that you might actually realize you get along with them and enjoy it. You purposely stick yourself in these sichiations-"

"Sit-U-ations" Anzu interrupted again.

"Sit-U-ations." Jounouchi repeated, glaring at her briefly out of the corner of his eye, then returning to look at the brunette. "And in the end you're stuck without any real friends or equals… 'cause you've convinced yourself that to have equals is a bad thing, and you hafta crush them. But truthfully, it's a normal part of growing up and living to have friends. Without them, you're some kinda freak." The blonde spoke animatedly.

"Wrong, mutt. Dead, wrong. Equals, friends, whatever you call them, they take advantage of you, they let you down, and then, when you're in the worst of situations, they kick you when you're down and leave you for dead. Equality is a breeding ground for abuse and contempt. It's only through subordination and making people realize their place, that order can be established. As for you, you're a low-life mongrel, and I am your master. Quit your whining and go scrounge on the floor for fallen food… if you're lucky I'll give you some table scraps." The brunette mocked him.

"You're fucking dead, Kaiba!" The blonde said, his eyes flickering, and his clenched fist flew toward the brunette. The blue-eyed youth deflected the punch with his metal briefcase. Jou fell backward, sprawled out over a chair, nursing his wounded fist and whimpering like a small wounded animal. Kaiba huffed, and strode past the other boy, taking his seat near the back of the classroom.

Honda, Yugi, and Anzu just looked at each other before rushing over to the friend's aid.

-

The last light of the sun was vanishing from the sky now.

"Is summer really over? Highschool, gone too?" Jounouchi asked himself as he walked home after saying goodbye to his friends. It was only yesterday they had been playing Duel Monsters at lunch or failing tests together. It was only yesterday that they went shopping or to some museum, or on another grand quest or competition. That was all over now. They were being divided, split up. Who knew when he'd see Yugi or Honda or even Anzu. Sure, Anzu and he both went to school together, but it wasn't as though they'd be taking the same classes…

-

The blonde laid awake in bed that night thinking.

"What will school be like? How am I ever going to pay off the loans I took out? Am I going to make new friends- should I? How will I manage to do well in classes… or even pass them?" He groaned to himself quietly. Each question seeming more legitimate and more important than the last.

His bed felt stiff, and his pillow, lumpy. He tried to rearrange it to no avail.

He flicked off his desk lamp and began drifting off to sleep, while a million more questions ran through his head and trickled into a dark haze.


	2. First Classes

**Defrost**

Author's Note: Thanks to mandapandabug, Kiki, PawPrints, and GenerallyMaz for being the first to comment! Any suggestions/crits are welcome. Glad to be back and writing Kaijou

**Chapter 2: First Classes**

Domino University was a relatively prestigious school, not as well known as some neighbouring universities, but still able to put a student in good standing. The sprawling campus existed on the edge of the downtown area in Domino City. Offering a wide variety of programs from nursing to agriculture, Domino University had been around for over eighty five years since it was first established. The fair weather of Domino City provided the campus with lush green foliage and tranquil spaces between classes where students were able to unwind.

The students of Domino University were, on the whole, ethical, hard working, and intently focused on graduating with high marks in order to acquire a job with a prestigious firm or organization. Amidst the throng of students, one boy stuck out like a sore thumb. His mop of unruly blonde hair fell in front of his face; the brightly coloured clothing draped across his body only added to the effect. He wandered the campus with a map, often turned in the wrong direction, cluelessly trying to find the right building.

His first class of the day was math. Not only did he show up twenty minutes late, after stumbling into several buildings for classes he couldn't even begin to pronounce, but to make matters worse Jounouchi was also terrible at math. Of all the classes, it was definitely the subject he found most challenging. He had trouble calculating the cost of grocery store products, was terrible at geometry, and algebra was like a foreign language to him. What was worse, the class was quite large, consisting of two hundred students in a lecture hall. For a boy who had more than enough trouble learning in a small, closed environment of twenty to thirty students, there was simply no way that sitting in a boring lecture hall listening to some old man go on about trigonometry or calculus would be conducive to learning for him.

Jounouchi, though he couldn't believe it himself, sat through the full forty minute long epic saga of an introduction to the course. He couldn't understand a word of it. Or maybe he just didn't care. So much for turning over a new leaf, he sighed. So much for being a good student for once. He tried to reason with himself: next time he'd pay attention, next time he'd definitely make more of an effort to understand what the professor had been saying. Well, maybe.

The second class he had was English. They were going to be covering some Shakespeare play. Probably something boring, he figured. If it didn't have something to do with food, Duel Monsters, video games, or his friends, why should he be interested? Who cared about these dream-like stupid things some old dead guy wrote about like love or war? Those were not his loves or his wars, so such things shouldn't concern him.

The professor was a woman. She was rather stern and tall, wearing a business suit fitted for a female. Besides all of that, she seemed quite young. Jounouchi was a little surprised, perhaps expecting another old man. Though her voice was quite stiff when she addressed the class, her words made sense, and the blonde found himself half paying attention. She handed out the syllabi, which was apparently just a complicated word for "course outlines" to the students. It was just a sheet of paper with a bunch of due dates. She briefly summarized the material that they would be covering. It was not that much different from highschool, Jounouchi thought to himself.

Class ended and he stood up, his dog-tag necklace tinkling together like a wind chime. He folded up the syllabus and slid it into his pocket, then followed the flood of his classmates out the door. As soon as he broke free of the other students ahead of him, cutting to the side, he slammed into someone.

The next thing he knew, he was looking up at a clear blue sky and an overhanging maple tree. The red-orange leaves were beautiful and reminded him of cinders. His vision cleared and he felt a sharp pain rushing to his head. He groaned and rubbed the side of his head.

"Guhhh." The blonde felt dazed, the world spinning around him for a moment. "Sorry- I didn't mean to-" He started, as he pulled himself to his feet, when he found himself face to face with a pair of cold blue eyes.

"Kaiba?!" He said, surprise creeping into his voice.

"Watch where you're going, mongrel. I thought by university you would've learned some manners and respect, but I guess you can't teach a pathetic dog new tricks." The brunette leered, brushing himself off haughtily.

"I didn't mean- nevermind! Shut your trap! It was a freaking accident!" The blonde said, flustered, blowing a bang out of his face furiously. He was growing redder with every second.

"What's this?" Kaiba said, his eyes narrowing at something on the ground. He reached over with a rough kind of grace, and picked up a sheet of paper between two fingers. Holding it one hand his eyes flickered across the page. A smug grin crossed his face, and he tapped the sheet with two fingers making a sound that frustrated Jou.

"Tsk, tsk. Taking first year English? Shouldn't you be in remedial class, pup? You can't even keep track of your course material- after all, I just found this one on the ground." He scoffed.

"Hey! Give it back!" Jou lunged, extended a previously clenched fist in order to snatch the paper from his adversary.

"I don't think so." The cerulean eyed boy smirked, raising the paper above the blonde's head calmly. Kaiba pulled down on the brunette's arm, trying to grab the paper.

"Don't. Touch. Me." Kaiba emphasized robotically, backhanding the blonde boy. Jou collapsed onto the ground, once again dazed.

"Good luck, loser." The brown haired boy said, folding up the paper and letting it flutter onto the collapsed boy's body. Kaiba's cloak swished behind him as he sauntered off.

"Ugh." The blonde grumbled, holding a hand to his head. A few moments later he leapt to his feet "Kaiba! Get back here you jerk!" He shouted, causing a few people on the campus to stare at him.

Just his luck- Kaiba just had to show up on his first day of classes. There were probably, what, a few thousand students in first year? And of all those students, he had to run into the uptight, snobby, rich bully from Domino High. What were the chances?

-

A glimmer of a smile crossed her face as she stood in the doorway, and in that moment she looked beautiful to him in a strange way, one that he had never seen before. Her outfit was short cut and plain. Her face was placid, as though she hadn't a care in the world. She waved as she saw him, and came over. The beauty drained from her as she collapsed onto the chair across from him. Once again, she was just Anzu- but a happier Anzu than he'd seen in a long time.

"Ah… I'm so tired." She sighed.

"They really make ya work hard, eh?" The blonde frowned.

"Yeah, but it's worth it." She nodded. "Ah… what kind of coffee should I order?"

"Iunno." He shrugged.

"What's wrong with you?" One of her eyebrows perked up inquisitively.

"Nuthin'" Jou grumbled.

"Oh come on, Jou-kun. We're friends right? You're not exactly the best at hiding your feelings, so why don't you tell me." She tried to coax it out of him, putting a hand on his knee. Jou looked down and started to grow a bit red.

"Jou." She said softly, trying another approach. "Jou? Come on, look at me. What happened?" Her words fell like flower petals.

"Look… I'm just frustrated. This school stuff is a lot harder than I thought. I barely even got through Domino High…" He frowned, not quite sure himself that it was school that troubled him. No, of course it was, he reassured himself.

"Well, I'm sure there are ways to cope. It's only the first day. Maybe you can get a tutor or something." She said smiling, and bringing her hand back to the café menu.

"Y-yeah… Like I could afford that." He said quietly to himself. "Already in debt from student loans." He said with a groan.

"Well, Jou-kun, a lot of students suffer financial debt too- university isn't exactly cheap. But I heard that the alma mater society offers free tutoring." She explained.

"Final what? Elmer who?" He stared at her blankly.

"Alma mater society." She repeated herself. "It's the student's organisation. Kind of like the student association in Domino High- except they have a bit more money and their own building in most universities." She said, her eyes grazing the menu.

"Eh… Their own building?" He looked a bit shocked.

"Well why not, some of our annual school fees go toward the society. Say, why don't you tell me what classes you went to today?"

"Had math. Seems real hard. I couldn't understand much of it, really." He explained.

"Well, you should go check out the free tutoring! Maybe they can help you with math."

"An' then there was English…" He trailed off.

"Well if you need any help maybe I can tutor you a little. After all, I do plan to go to New York, so I've been working on my English now and then."

"Yeah…" The blonde said, seeming distracted.

"Something else wrong, Jounouchi-kun?" Anzu inquired.

"Ah… N-no, nuthin'…" The boy replied, sounding utterly unconvincing.

Just then a waitress stopped at their table, effectively interrupting their conversation. Anzu left her prying at that.

After they ordered Anzu leaned in toward Jou.

"Cute waitress, huh?" She said, leering.

"Ah… really?" The blonde said, looking a bit distant.

"You didn't look at her?" She seemed a bit surprised.

"You did?" He said finally coming back to reality. "I didn't know you were interested in women, Anzu." He teased her.

"What?! I am not! N-not that there's anything wrong with that though." The brunette started going quite red in the face, trying to correct herself and sound politically correct.

"Hey, as far as I'm concerned, two chicks is perfectly fine wit me!" Jou grinned sheepishly.

"Jou! Don't be such a pervert!" Anzu went a bit redder.

"Anyway, how was your classes?" Jou asked casually.

"Dance was fine, just very tiring." She explained.

"So… d'you just get to dance all day or somethin'?" He twitched his nose slightly.

"Not all the time. There are a couple of different dance lessons a day that range from ballet to tango to hip hop, but there's also a dance history class and we're still required to take regular requirements to graduate." She pointed out.

"Ah… You're really into this whole dance thing, eh?" The blonde youth said, a tinge of softness in his voice.

"Is that a bad thing, Jounouchi-kun?" She asked.

"It's not that, Anzu… Just, I never really was so crazy about much is all." He replied.

"Except food… and duel monsters… and your sister…" The brunette remarked.

"Yeah, well of course there's those things too. But it's nothin' that you can study at university, really." He sighed.

"I'm sure you'll find something that you're good at, Jou! After all, there's just so much variety. There's sociology, and philosophy, and architecture… practically anything you can think of!" Anzu said excitedly.

"Yeah… I'm not very good at this school stuff though." He looked down at the table separating them.

"You can learn, Jou. That's what you're here for, right? And like I said, there's always free tutoring or you can ask friends for help!" She smiled at him.

"I guess so…" He trailed off seeming uncertain.

-

The leaves had been changing colours gradually. Some trees had already gone orange, while others were of a more decidedly yellow hue. The blonde had said good-bye to his highschool friend after leaving the café, and was now heading toward the bus loop and adjoined parking lot. A car engine caught his attention. It was a limo.

"I wonder who that could be for." Jou rolled his eyes, gritting his teeth together. "Old moneybags I bet."

Sure enough, a figure whose coat seemed to glide along the air emerged from behind a nearby building, and climbed into the vehicle.

"Bastard." Jou muttered to himself as he pulled out a crinkled up piece of paper from his back pocket with instructions for how to get home.

It had been a long day, and seeing his least favourite person from Domino High who lived in the lap of luxury only served to infuriate him further.

"Who does he think he is anyway, jeez!" The blonde huffed, stomping frustratedly toward the bus loop.


	3. Late Autumn Rains

**Defrost**

_Author's Note:_ Thanks to everyone who has commented so far. As always suggestions welcome. It has been about a half a year since I updated... hoping to come with more frequent ones. This one's been ticking away in my head for a while, and I have a lot of ideas for it and for development.

**Chapter 3: Late Autumn Rains**

He kept putting it off, seeing the huge line ups outside the bookstore, but eventually he knew he would have to venture in.

"It's like a library in here." He muttered to himself. All those words, all those books. It was more than he could ever hope to take in. The rows and columns of text assaulted his eyes, bewildering him. Signs were posted everywhere, pointing every which direction like something from out of a fairytale. The blonde gave a frustrated sigh and wandered in the direction other students were wandering, presumably toward the course-related books.

On his way something caught his eye. It was a gaming section. He looked quickly over some books on chess, Chinese checkers, poker, and arrived at a Duel Monsters section. There were strategy guides he'd never seen before; there were ones telling you how to build the best deck and others listing ultra rare cards that he hardly knew existed!

He stood for a while, flipping through various texts. One book seemed particularly insightful, and he was thinking of buying it, but when he checked the inside covers, he closed it shut with a scowl and threw it back on the shelf. As he walked away, the front cover clearly displayed the title and author: it was by Seto Kaiba, published by Kaiba Corp.

The blonde quickly fled from the section, the sense of stability he had garnered from being in familiar territory suddenly fleeting and ephemeral. Once more he was in the labyrinthine corridors of the gigantic book store. Who knew that Domino University housed such a massive place? Hell, he'd never even set foot in the library at Domino High- he didn't even know they had a library until his second to last year there when they had to do a book report for an English class. When he stated this in class everyone had laughed at him, and blushing scarlet he sat back down in his seat.

Words spun around him dizzyingly. He followed the ant trail of students ahead of him toward the course book section which he had been distracted from earlier. The ceasless flow of students around him all chattering away made the place uncomfortably warm and noisy.

When he finally located some of the course books he was required to have, he found that they added up to hundreds of dollars. Hundreds of dollars he didn't have. He had expected them to be maybe ten, twenty bucks each. Who knew that people would pay hundreds of bucks for a bunch of books? Thick, heavy books too. They looked ominous. Jou couldn't read a newspaper half the time- how was he going to keep interest in a book that thick? The whole prospect was looking bleak- and Jou knew he couldn't afford to take out another loan to try and pay for the books, as he was barely covering tuition at the moment.

The blonde youth realized he was going to have to get a part time job in order to start paying off these debts. He'd already been fired from the last three, apparently his bosses just didn't like him or something; he tried to do everything they said but it still wasn't working out. He figured they were just too strict. It was just flipping burgers or serving coffee or whatever other- not like the entire world was going to come crashing down if he did it a little differently. Apparently the managers didn't see things the same way he did.

Frustrated, bewildered, and a bit crushed, the blonde left the bookstore, dragging open the heavy doors and pushing himself past them, where he was met with fresh air once again. Jou took a deep breath and wandered off to his math class.

-

"It's too hard." He groaned to himself as he wandered out of the class in a daze. "I'm never going to understand this math stuff." He pocketed his pencil and some scrunched up paper.

As he wandered across the sunny early autumn campus, a few leaves fluttered to the ground in the gentle breeze. Upon approaching the building his English class something strangely familiar caught his eye. Time stopped, the figures moving around him loaded with books and knapsacks. Before he managed to turn his head, some strands of hair fell into his eyes. He raised a hand to brush them away, but whatever he had seen was gone.

Someone brushed past him and it was like reality had returned. People were bustling past at break-neck speed. Whatever or whoever he had seen was gone. The youth shook his head slightly and continued into the building which held his next class.

-

Jou stood outside his political science classroom. It was the last class he had for the day after economics (neither of which he understood a word of). The weather had taken a turn for the worse outside. The crisp autumn air had clouded over, and the sky was grey and foreboding.

"Great." He groaned, putting his hand to the window. It was icy cold to his warm touch. He withdrew his hand, wincing slightly. He leaned in, leering out at the miserable weather. Water was pouring from the sky like millions of bullets unloaded from a machine gun, firing against the ground and ricocheting off of buildings and trees.

The blonde's vision extended outside, where he saw a blur of people wearing raincoats and umbrellas. He did not have the foresight to bring one, nor did he have an umbrella.

"Oh well. A little rain never hurt nobody." He mumbled, pushing against the door and exiting the building.

He passed beneath various overhanging trees which caught some of the rain. His shoes splashed up water as they landed in puddles that had formed on the cement walkways. Everywhere, the sound of water falling surrounded him.

The blonde was thoroughly soaked by the time he was about half way to the bus loop. He fumbled in his pockets for a second looking for correct fare. As he did so water splashed from his hair into his face. He shook his head like a dog trying to dry itself off. Rain droplets cascaded through the air from his flaxen hair.

"Damn, I'd swear I had enough change for bus fare." He groaned to himself, unable to find more than a few scarce items in his pockets.

A large well-lit building loomed ahead of him. The rain was violently pounding the sidewalk. There was no way he would be able to make it home in this torrent of rain.

He climbed the large concrete stairs and dragged the heavy doors open, entering the building. A long black mat welcomed his soggy shoes, and he scraped them against the rough part of the mat, hoping it would absorb some of the rain water. The hallway ahead of him had water and wet footprints up and down it. After he finished attempting to dry his shoes off, he shook the sleeves of his shirt out and twisted the bottom of his shirt. Water slopped off his soaked clothing and hit the floor with a thud.

Jou walked as sombrely as he could muster down the hallway. It was early evening now, and through the windows he could see that the sky was transitioning from gray to black gradually. He brushed a few droplets of water off his cheek and neck, and continue down the hallway.

"Excuse me…" A shorter dark-haired girl asked him.

"Huh?" He replied.

"Are you lost?" She asked, a kind tone to her voice.

"Ah… what… no… why would you think I'm lost?" He said, his face flushing slightly pink at the idea that it might be obvious to the casual observer.

"Well it's still early in the semester, and a lot of freshmen get lost… also given the way you're stumbling around… There's no need to be embarrassed. My job is to assist people who need help finding their way." She explained, pointing to a nametag hanging around her neck.

"Ah… I see." He nodded. "So… err…. What building is this?" He quirked a brow.

"We're in the SUB building– the student union building as it is commonly called. There's a food court, some cafes, and a study area, as well as several other resources located here." The girl explained.

"Okay… Thanks!" The blonde said, brushing some raindrops out of his hair absent-mindedly before brushing past the girl to wander around the building.

Jounouchi wondered why something about this building's existence seemed so familiar, and then came upon it as he was eyeing very trophies and posters on the walls.

"Ah! This must be that Elmer place Anzu told me about…" He said to himself, nearly tripping over another student approaching him. "Does that mean they have that tutoring here…" he wondered, looking around. There were a few signs, one in particular pointing toward a supposed "study area". He headed in the direction of the sign, past the men's bathroom, past a small French-style café, and down some stairs. He then passed along a narrow corridor which opened up into a sprawling area with desks and chairs.

At the far end, he could see a few long rectangular desks stacked with computers for student's use. Other students populated the desks with laptops and notebooks. People were chatting and eating while they studied, though the level of noise was tolerable.

Some of the desks had little signs on them with the label "Tutoring" followed by a different subject. A young woman with long dark hair caught him off guard with a greeting.

"Hi." He replied, trying to look over her shoulder at the tables with curiosity.

"Welcome to the Domino University free tutoring service! I have never seen you around here before, are you a new student at the university?" She inquired.

"Yeah... This is my first year." He nodded firmly before brushing a mussed up bang out of his eye. His hair was still a bit wet, and his clothes were only just starting to dry off.

"Our tutoring service is totally free for students, it's paid for as part of your yearly tuition. If you are looking for extra help from our tutors beyond our open hours at a different location, you may make an arrangement with them at an agreeable rate. The Domino University tutoring service has been running for over fifteen years now, offering students assistance with a wide variety of subjects from English to Physics. Simply tell me the subject you're interested in and you will be slotted in for an hour's worth of time with a capable and experienced tutor." She explained. Though she seemed to reciting the monologue off by heart, there was a friendliness to her tone, one that put him at a bit of ease.

Why not try the tutoring, he thought to himself; after all, his grades were already going to start suffering. He was really lost with his work, especially his math class. Math was terribly hard, he just couldn't get his head around all those numbers and formula things, whatever they were. Meantime, he could stay here and dry off. Doing some studying to kill time with someone that might actually be able to help him with his work was about as productive as he could get.

"Do you have an available slots for Math for today?" He asked her. She flipped through some schedule sheets on a clipboard.

"Yes, in fact, we have a math tutor available right now if you'd like to start immediately." She nodded, smiling softly to him.

"Uhm... Alright." The blonde said, a little nervously, not quite certain what to expect from a tutor. He couldn't put a human face on someone who might teach him. Was this person going to be older? If so, how much? Perhaps some kindly older man or woman with a firm voice and a guiding hand who could reveal the mysterious ways of those numbers and symbols he couldn't grasp. Perhaps they would be someone he would get along with after the initial nervousness, someone who wouldn't make him feel like he was a useless idiot depending on them to get by.

"Right this way." The woman motioned him over to a particular table. "Your name?"

"Katsuya... Katsuya Jounouchi." He replied matter-of-factly.

"Alright, please meet your tutor for today S-" She began, only to be cut off by the wet blonde's exclamation.

"Kaiba!" The blonde said going ghastly pale. A brunette figure looked up, fixing a pair of familiar steely blue eyes on the other boy.


	4. Limo Ride

**Defrost**

_Author's Note:_ Thanks ONIX, Manda, and Cerulean for commenting. This chapter should have been up sooner, but personal life caused delays. Not sure when the next one will be up, as I have an Anime Convention to go to early April and final exams right after.

**Chapter 4: Limo Ride**

The girl made some small attempt at introduction before quickly scurrying off to assist someone else, and the blonde was left with his long-time high school adversary.

"What are you doing here." The voice behind those piercing blue eyes spoke placidly, the question quickly turned into a rhetorical jeer.

"Maybe I should be asking the same thing about you!" Jou huffed, crossing his arms and looking away pointedly with a grumble.

"My PR department recommended that as CEO of Kaiba Corp., I try to involve myself in the community. It reflects well upon the company if I give back to some of the youth that purchase our products. One such market is Domino University, and it happens to be convenient as I am a student here." The brunette snorted. "Not that I need to explain myself to the likes of you."

"Hnnh. It figures, moneybags wouldn't ever do some kind of charity outta the good of his own heart." The blonde youth criticized.

"And what are you doing here, mutt?" The brunette narrowed his eyes. "Shouldn't you have dropped out by now?" He replied in a cool tone, his words seething with a veiled rage.

"I came here to get outta the rain." The other boy said, motioning with a slender hand to the window where furious drops of water still poured down. "It was just a coincidence I found this place."

"Oh, certainly. How fortuitous. Obviously I should not have assumed you had the necessary primary school level of education necessitated to read signage." The brunette glowered.

"Well then, it's obvious I'm wasting my time." Jou snapped. "I'm gettin' outta here." He said, beginning to saunter off.

"Wait." Kaiba said after a moment, seeming unsure of whether Jou was going to really leave.

"What?" The blonde said, staring the cerulean-eyed boy down.

"You can't leave." The brunette hissed.

"Yes, I can. Just watch me." Jou said, turning toward the doors. The brunette stood up and grabbed him a bit roughly by the shoulder. The two stood for a moment in complete silence. The room seemed to resound with stillness, as though everything had frozen in time. Then the blonde broke the silence, rather than obliterating the tension with a violent motion, he simply shrugged the brunette's hand off his shoulder.

"It won't do to have my tutees leave." The CEO said in a lowered voice, as though trying not to make a scene.

"Then maybe you shouldn't have such an ugly look on your face all the time." The blonde said, whirling back around on his feet to face the other man.

"Why you-" Kaiba said, looking like he was getting riled up by the blonde. He clenched his fist, the veins in his hand pulsing for a moment, then he relaxed his hand, his expression growing detached and cool once again. He dragged a chair back abruptly, "Sit." He said firmly, staring pointedly at Jounouchi.

The blonde boy hesitated for a moment, as if weighing the pros and cons to the situation. On one hand he needed good grades. On the other, he would have to sit down and actually... spend time with the awful and disgusting Seto Kaiba. Just the thought of it sent a shiver of revulsion through his body and he wanted to gag. He looked up at the other boy, their eyes meeting. Kaiba's look was colder and even more insistent than usual, his gaze even more invasive that the blonde had ever remembered it being in high school.

"Fine." Jou muttered relenting, breaking eye contact as he made his admission. He flopped onto the chair haphazardly; his limbs were sprawled out in front of him like some kind of strange dangling ragdoll.

"Proper posture is vital to efficient learning." Kaiba said, looking the blonde over with a sour expression.

"Yeah, whatever." Jou said, rearranging himself slightly, still half-slumped over in the chair.

"Do you intend to pass your class... or would you prefer to fail miserably and be ejected from this university? The choice is yours, mongrel. It does not bother me in the least whether or not you succeed. If you want to even stand a chance you had better listen to me." The blue-eyed boy commanded Jou.

"Okay, fine, fine. Sheesh." The blonde said, sitting upright in his chair, his hair still dripping with a few stray rain droplets.

"Alright." The darker haired boy said at last, giving the blonde an admonishing glance, "Do you have some work from class you had trouble with?" He asked coldly.

"Uh... Yeah. Right here." The youth fidgeted in his pocket for a bit before pulling out a rumpled piece of paper. He dumped it unceremoniously upon the table, and then set to work peeling the tightly wadded ball apart. He began spreading the papers across the table with his now reddening fingertips as blood rushed into them.

"Incompetent! If you're going to write something down keep it free of creases." The brunette narrowed his eyes and reprimanded the other boy sternly. "Keep your work tidy." He scoffed, as his voice was filled with a tone that implied that the blonde should really know better; Kaiba seemed to be reassuring himself he was dealing with a child.

"Okay, okay." Jou said begrudgingly as the other youth grabbed the messed up papers and tried to make sense of the poorly scrawled markings on the pages. His eyes flicked across the text methodically, soberly, like a machine storing away data. After some time he looked up at the blonde.

"In this particular problem, F and K are isomorphic fields. We can extend the isomorphism so that it takes _x_ of _F_ and _x_ of _K_ by letting _T_ of the _a_ to the _n_th degree." The brown haired boy explained. "You can tell that the isomorphism in this particular case is one because it is an isomorphism for the coefficients of those terms. This will build up the splitting field by joining roots of irreducible factors of _x_ of _F_; the fields forming the distinct roots of an irreducible polynomial are the same because they are iso-... are you paying any attention to me?"

"Isowhat? Coe....?" The blonde boggled, scratching his head and staring blankly into space.

"It's going to be a long hour." The brunette gritted his teeth and sighed, muttering to himself.

-

As they neared the end of the lesson, not just one hour had elapsed, but two and a half. It seemed as though because of the rain most students had been eager to get home, and the Student Union Building was all but abandoned but for a few lone figures intent on studying with their noses deep in books. There were more than enough tutors, and since the pair had not gotten much of anywhere in the first hour, they continued on, paying no attention to the time.

At first, the cerulean-eyed boy had continuously checked his watch, trying to keep his eyes trained on the matter at hand. The blonde was so wretchedly stupid and irritating, that he was eager to get the painful lesson over and done with. As it went on, it did not seem like his words completely evaded the other boy; so long as he spoke slowly enough and explained things with careful detail, the cogs and wheels in the other boy's mind began turning. Indeed, it did take some significant amount of time before he could explain a concept to the other boy, even longer before he showed him how to implement it, and even longer still before the honey-eyed boy was able to put the ideas down on paper himself.

The blonde made a lot of casual remarks, sometimes throwing in a joke or two, which Kaiba found to be stupid and in poor taste. As they became more involved; however, the blonde's concentration grew, and the remarks and jokes that he made helped to lighten the mood. Over time, the CEO's frustration lessened. It was as though the more he was forced to assist the dog and the harder the blonde tried to comprehend the material... the less frustration the darker haired boy felt. This was surprising to him. In fact, the eagerness the other boy showed was, though he would certainly never describe it as such in his own words, cute. Endearing in a strange way. Most of the people he had tutored, even students far more capable than Jounouchi had been dry and uninteresting, but the blonde always had some quip or other. When he was not making off-colour remarks, the boy was making small sounds of frustration or had a tense facial expression.

After much time had elapsed, the girl who was managing the tutoring service that day came to Kaiba and leaned over his shoulder.

"I don't get it." The blonde said. "I thought you said it was a coeffish... whatever it was..." He said, furrowing his brow.

"Yes, but in this particular case-" The brunette began.

"Ah, Mr. Kaiba, you know... the tutoring service is closed now. You are free to go." The woman running the service cut in.

"What?" The darker haired boy snapped, looking irritated by the interruption.

"It's time to go." She said, firmly holding her ground, catching her eyes with his icy blue ones.

"Can't you see that I'm busy, woman?" Kaiba replied sternly, an explosive power hidden behind that impenetrable wall of frost. The Kaiba that the blonde knew and remembered all too well had returned in that instant of what the brunette likely considered to be insubordination.

"Ah... Sorry to interrupt you." She relented. "Of course... you can continue if you want; however, I am going home." She explained.

"That's fine." Kaiba said, turning back to the matter at hand and ignoring the girl once more. "As I was saying..." He continued as the blonde listened intently.

-

The student lounge was even emptier by the time they finished.

"If you don't pass your next exam, then I would be surprised." Kaiba said, a strange way of giving praise.

"You mean, I'm doing that well?" The the honey-eyed boy inquired, a bit surprised.

"Sure." Kaiba scoffed. "But only because of my teaching expertise." He said with a sly grin.

"Hm. Whatever." The blonde replied, not willing to fight about this for once.

"Non-response is an admission of truth, you know." The brunette sneered.

"Huh?" Jou said, failing to understand what the other boy was talking about, but realizing it was probably another insult, he tried to regain composure. "Look," the blonde said at last. "I don't know about you, but I'm really tired now. I know you don't really like me- hey, I don't really like you either, but right now I just want to go home and sleep." The blonde replied, standing up abruptly, taking the papers off the table. "You want to fight, go right ahead, but enjoy fighting nobody" He said, starting to walk away.

"Hey, mutt." Kaiba's voice rang out.

"What?" The blonde said, turning around.

"You know you ought to pay your tutor proper respect." The voice behind those cold, calculating eyes replied.

The blonde stopped in his tracks and began to walk back toward the table; he looked the brunette firmly in his eyes.

"Thanks for the help." Jou said as firmly as he could muster. "You're right. I probably won't totally fail now." He said with a bit of a smirk.

"You'd better not." Kaiba snorted, "Or else I'd have wasted my time; I don't like having my time wasted." As he spoke, he caught the other boy's eyes, and in that brief instant there was something else there, some other than icy coldness in those blue depths. Maybe it was just a brief, fleeting flicker, but the blonde was certain he saw a different side to the blue eyes trainer in that moment – a side that the icy CEO would never willingly admit to.

"I'll do my best." The blonde nodded in agreement, before turning and walking away.

When he reached the windows it was quite apparent that the rain was pouring down even faster and harder than before. The pounding on the pavement outside caused such cacophony that Jou winced at the sound. He moved to pull the door open, his fingers white from wrapping around the handle; suddenly another hand thudded against the door, forcing it tightly shut. Jou's initial reaction was to pull harder on the door when it would not budge, but the sound of the hand surprised him and he spun fast on his heels.

"The buses have all stopped running now." A low masculine voice said from behind him as he turned. It was the cold blue-eyed boy.

"That's fine." The blonde spoke in a short tone, "I'll just have to walk then." He said, turning back around.

"You'll catch a cold or worse." the brunette scoffed, arms folded.

"I've walked farther in worse weather before." Jou said, reaching for the door again.

"It's my responsibility; I kept you. I will not be held blameworthy because you rashly decided to make yourself ill." Kaiba snorted.

"I see, so it is still all about your public mage, huh? It'd be pretty bad if the Great and Mighty Kaiba was seen to be abandoning someone to go wander alone in the cold and the rain." The blonde quipped sarcastically.

"My intentions are no concern of yours. A mutt like you should be grateful for a ride free of charge." The brunette said, his calculating eyes fixed on the other boy.

"Listen up, moneybags" the blonde said, his tone growing more seriously suddenly as he leaned in toward the other boy, "I'd rather die of penomia than ride in a car with you." His eyes narrowed.

"It's _pneumonia_." Kaiba quipped.

"Whatever." The blonde rolled his eyes. "The point still stands, moneybags."

"I don't think that's the issue at all." The ever perceptive Kaiba said, "You sat next to me quite fine for the last couple of hours." He said, his cold eyes peering deeper into the blonde's own. Jou stared back for a moment, before going quite red in the face and turning away.

"Fine!" The blonde spat out at last, looking ashamed. There was a pause before he spoke again. "I don't need charity. From anyone. Especially you." He spat the words out as though they left a bad taste in his mouth, looking down at the ground "Just another thing for you to try an' hold over my head."

"It's not _charity_, mutt. I kept you here late, and I'm going that direction anyway." Kaiba said calmly.

After some continuation of this, Jou finally agreed to go. The blonde never asked why Kaiba was going the same direction. In actual fact, he wasn't.

Outside, the rain banged down on the pavement like miniature anvils. As the two left the student union building, Kaiba opened a large umbrella which he held up. Jou felt a strange, unknown feeling rising in his chest as the brunette held the plastic and metal device over both their heads, thinking for a moment that he was going to be left soaking in the rain.

Out of the black sea of night, where lamp posts emerged like lost miners pointing their beams at the ground and groping their way around in the blackness, some dark form solidified. It looked as though night itself had liquefied and then at last amassed, so shiny was the reflective surface. It was a luxurious black chariot, Seto Kaiba's personal and private limo. The white gloved hand of the driver opened the door as Kaiba motioned the blonde in. Jou looked a bit surprised but the brunette made some snappy remark about standing there holding the umbrella all day.

Before he knew it, Jou was somehow in the very uncomfortable position of sitting parallel to the other boy, separated only by a single seat. The leather interior was gentle and ought to have been much more soothing, but the blonde was tense, sensing he was in enemy waters. Occasionally he glanced conspiratorially over at the other passenger who appeared to be completely ignoring him.

Kaiba was making a phone call over his mobile after checking several messages he had received. At the moment he was order some command down the phone at the person on the other end. From what the blonde heard, he gathered it was a business call. Kaiba was frustrated about some thing or other that had not been completed properly, and had been informed he would have to find some way to correct the error. He shut his phone off quite sharply, sighing and muttering something to himself under his breath followed by a remark about how the people who worked for him were incompetent.

This phone call was followed by another, which the blonde could only assume was to Mokuba, whom Kaiba lived with. Mokuba was still going through lower levels of school, so he was not in any capacity to move out from his brother's mansion. On the other hand, given that the blonde had always seen him as a somewhat likable but spoiled child, he couldn't imagine someone with such a character ever wanting to move out. After all, if you lived in the lap of luxury, with every whim attended to by servants, what need would there be to move out?

Apparently Kaiba anticipated that he would be staying up even later than usual in order to rectify the problem which the initial phone call regarded. He asked Mokuba to complete a number of minor tasks for him, most of which ensured that their housemaid prepared his office, the kitchen, and his bedroom appropriately for his arrival.

To describe the rest of the trip as awkward for Jou would have been an understatement. Once Kaiba had completed his phone calls, the two just sat there quietly. The silence between the two was loud and vast that the pouring rain against the roof of the limousine took over, pounding away as it fired off in torrents. The blonde tilted his head to gaze out of the window on his side, dimly lit streetlights illuminating his sullen face intermittently before it was cloaked in darkness once more. The houses beyond were gloomy, enveloped in a hazy wall of rain. The driver did not turn the radio on, though it never struck the blonde as odd. He could not imagine what kind of music Kaiba would listen to anyway. Probably something pretentious like classical music.

As they were getting closer, the driver asked Jou for some more exact directions, and it was not long before they vehicle lingered outside of his house. Jou looked a bit uncomfortable at the thought that Kaiba would see the run-down building he lived in; just another thing for the brunette to begrudge him, more fodder for his adversary's barrage. To his surprise, Kaiba made no clever remarks.

"Uh… thanks for the ride." The blonde said, not sure what else to say, as he reached for the door handle.

"Hey" that icy voice rang out. The blonde turned his head to look back at the other man seated next to him, but suddenly the brunette's head was close against his. The blonde tried to recoil in shock, and almost hit his head on the door. Kaiba had him cornered, and he could feel the brunette's cool breath on his own cheek. In that brief moment, the other boy's face was so close he could see the gentle texture of CEO's skin, the way his hair hung over his face in strands that loosely formed bangs, even the contours of the other man's face. "You had better do well on your next exam… or I'll make you regret it." The brunette said quite simply, his frozen eyes leaving an indelible mark with their cutting glare on Jou's honey brown ones.

"Uh… Yeah…" The blonde said nervously still leaning back against the door. He fumbled for the handle, and felt it click open. The door swung open from his weight, and he propelled himself out of the opening. He quickly shut the limo door and rushed toward the dilapidated apartment building. The limo stayed there for a moment, engine running, before gliding off into the black night, the glistening sheen of the vehicle being the only visible as it melted into darkness.


End file.
